Donald Trump, a showman and untested political leader, appears to have the Republican presidential nomination sewn up. How does that make us feel? To quote Trump on Twitter: Sad!

But don't rule out a surprise twist in what has been the most confounding and discouraging campaign season of our time. There remains a chance Republican delegates to the convention in Cleveland will be freed of their obligation to support Trump and permitted — as conservative writer William Kristol put it — to vote their conscience. How are we feeling now? Slightly hopeful.

Thursday's Wall Street Journal reported in detail on the movement among some Republican leaders to change the rules and open the convention to a new nominating contest, even though Trump secured enough delegates to win in the first round. It's all about persuading party faithful to recognize that Trump's divisive political style and worrisomely unorthodox approach to running for president require a second vetting. From the Journal's news story: "It's a long shot, but by some counts (the anti-Trump forces) are remarkably close to getting past the first hurdle next week in Cleveland."

The process would work this way: When the party rules committee meets ahead of the July 18-21 convention, Trump dissenters and skeptics will seek a vote on a change that would allow Trump-committed delegates to support whomever they want. The measure would need the support of 28 rules committee members — that's one-quarter the total of 112 — to pass. The Journal says it found 20 members ready to consider the idea, plus 33 more whose views could not be determined. Other sources cited by the Journal say there are as few as 15 or possibly more than 30 members who like the idea of unshackling delegates.

Both sides are aggressively making their case to fellow delegates. If the provision passes muster with the rules committee, all convention delegates would vote on the rule change. Anti-Trumpers would need 1,237 votes — half the delegates — to get their way. Given that Trump has about 890 delegates personally loyal to him and 680 in opposition, the Journal reports, getting to 1,237 would require persuading nearly two-thirds of remaining delegates to take a defiant stand.

This would not be a coup — the rules committee is doing its work by formulating the rules — but it sure would make for a chaotic convention, with the possibility of Republicans settling on a different nominee for president. Yes, it's a long shot. Yes, appeasing dissenters risks further destabilizing the Republican Party. But the party — and the country — are deeply divided over Trump's candidacy, as Bernie Sanders Democrats are over Hillary Clinton's.

Scott Stantis

Scott Stantis

Voters are wary of Trump. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll last month found that more than half of Republicans are dissatisfied with their party's presumptive nominee. The convention delegates are party leaders, of course, but many of them are concerned too. House Speaker Paul Ryan was slow to endorse Trump and acted quickly this week to chastise Trump for a tweet that contained an anti-Semitic image. Politico says a "significant faction" of GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill haven't yet backed Trump. He's been given the brushoff by several potential vice presidential picks. He still doesn't have a bench of established, expert advisers.

Trump got this far by exerting brute force of personality and following the rules in primary and caucus states. But the convention is a party function; its rules are what delegates decide they are. We hope rules committee members, and then all delegates, exert their power to weigh other options and then choose their party's best possible nominee. That is not Donald Trump:

His policy proposals are a mix of empty and offensive promises. His rhetoric drips with disdain and, on occasion, hints at violence. He has had time as the presumptive nominee to retool his act and school himself on leadership, but we've seen nothing to convince us he's ready to be president. He continues to treat the campaign trail like a stand-up comedy tour, doing his "crooked Hillary" bit and his Saddam-Hussein-was-a-bad-guy-but-good-at-killing-terrorists routine. In a rant Wednesday night in Ohio, Trump defended a tweet of a six-pointed star, claiming it was not a Star of David juxtaposed with a pile of money; it was just a star. "You know, they took the star down," he brayed. "They should have left it up. I would have rather defended it."

Election Day is four months away. Republicans are about to nominate their candidate. They have one final opportunity on the calendar to rethink the path of this campaign and the future of their party. Do GOP leaders really want to stick it out with Donald Trump? We hope their answer is no.